Hibs 4 Rangers 0 – McDowall can’t stop rot on Gray day for Rangers

Kenny McDowall’s first game in caretaker charge ushered in only fresh, new humiliation for Rangers.

Thrashed here by a rampant, swaggering Hibs, the Light Blues crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season.

The heaviest defeat, indeed, since the 6-2 loss to Celtic in August 2000, way back when the current Easter Road manager Alan Stubbs wore green and white hoops.

To get even more scary, it was the worst they have fared in an away match against the Leith outfit since 1912 (war-time results excluded). History, however, is rapidly being rewritten at Ibrox.

In this rudderless season, Rangers have now lost all four of the League games they have played against their rivals from the capital.

They have lost their past four away games in all competitions. In the past two games against Hibs alone, they have conceded seven goals.

And, as good as the hosts were, they were aided by a catalogue of slipshod defending from a team who once again did not so much shoot themselves in the foot as blast both their legs off.

“The manner in which we lose our goals, it looks pretty easy against us,” admitted Kenny Miller. “When we look back on it I’m sure there will be at least two or three situations leading into each goal that we should have dealt with better.”

Quite. Rangers were second best in general play, where they looked less incisive and confident on the ball than their opponents, and were especially bad at the goals. True, the first was a fantastic strike, with David Gray demonstrating perfect head-over-the-ball technique to drive his effort high into a far top corner.

But if the accuracy and power involved excused keeper Steve Simonsen, his team-mate Nicky Law was culpable in not closing the Hibs player down quickly enough.

Although the headed clearance from Lee McCulloch fell nicely for the Hibs full-back, he certainly took his time settling himself before shooting. Goal No.2 was even worse, with Jason Cummings allowed the freedom of the penalty area to tap Liam Craig’s cutback into an unguarded net.

And for all Scott Robertson did well at the third, driving forward from midfield before finishing in style, there was a surprising shortage of opponents in his path.

The fourth was a nice move and a particularly sharp volley from Craig, but by then Hibs, buoyed by events, were playing exhibition football.

So, were the Rangers players guilty of not trying?

“I don’t know if lack of commitment is the right phrase, they just lacked a wee bit of organisation,” said McDowall. “They let themselves down in terms of where they should have been on the park.

“Do I want to make that an excuse? No because we are professional people, the lot of us. I will take -responsibility I set the team up.”

He was, to be fair, at pains to also praise Hibs which was important because they were very good, a point Stubbs was likewise keen to stress.

“I hope my players get the credit they deserve for the result, and it is not about what is going on off the field with Rangers,” he said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was close to it, and we will go into the Hearts game next week with confidence because when you are winning games it doesn’t matter who you play.”

On what was a near perfect day for the Hibs manager, Stubbs even managed to take extra credit for what was a decent attempt to help Rangers put their plight into context.

“I do think they will be stronger come the play-offs,” he argued. “They are a huge club and they are obviously going through a tough time at this moment in time but they will come again.

“They are going to have ride the flak which is going to come their way and batten down the hatches but Rangers will always be a big club.”